14 February 2011 5 Comments

Strawberry Hearts

I do this every time I cut strawberries but thought it particularly appropriate for Valentine’s day.

Get a strawberry.

Cut the strawberry at a 45° angle from the top right towards the middle.

Remove the knife and cut it at the opposite 45% degree angle toward the strawberry’s middle.

Now your strawberry looks like this from the top.

And this from the side.

Now cut the strawberry in half lengthwise.

And there you have it, two heart shaped strawberry pieces.

Much love to you and yours this Valentine’s day!

10 February 2011 2 Comments

Tasty and dependable egg casserole

Egg casseroles are one of those triple threat brunch recipes.
They’re inexpensive,
taste great and
can be made ahead of time.
(The J Lo of brunch casseroles!)

And although, unlike J-Lo, egg casseroles aren’t the fanciest dishes on the brunch table, they’re dependable.
The work horse of the brunch table. The tasty work horse of the brunch table.
Wait, this is all coming out wrong.

There are certainly more expensive brunch recipes,
there are also easier brunch recipes.
But you want something tasty and dependable.
And inexpensive.

This recipe is from Cook’s Illustrated’s, “The New Best Recipe.” A book I recommend if you want every. single. recipe you try to turn out tasty and dependable.

Our little family of four ate 3/4 of this casserole. If you’re making it for a crowd, double the ingredients and bake in a 9″ x 13″ baking dish.

Tasty and dependable Egg Casserole

Ingredients:
10 1/2 inch thick slices French or Italian bread from the bakery section of your grocery store
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1 medium sweet onion, minced
1 bag baby spinach
Salt and pepper
1/2 cup Sauvignon Blanc (I use Sutter Home)
6 ounces Jack cheese, shredded, 1/2 cup of that reserved
6 large eggs
1 3/4 cups half and half

Directions:
Put the slices of bread out on the counter overnight OR you can bake it for 40 minutes at 225° F, flipping once. When the bread has cooled or you’re ready to build your casserole, butter the slices on one side with 2 tablespoons of the butter and put them aside.

Melt 2 tablespoons of the remaining 3 tablespoons butter in skillet over medium heat.
Sauté the onions until you can see through them and they smell good.
(about 3 minutes)

Add spinach and salt and pepper and cook until a gloppy wilty spinachy mess, about 2 minutes.
Take the spinach mixture to a bowl, set it aside with the bread.

Add the wine to the skillet, increase the heat to medium-high, and simmer for 2 minutes.
Set a timer, I’ve been known to burn the wine.

Butter an 8 inch square baking dish with the rest (1 tablespoon) of the butter.
Set half the bread slices buttered-side up in a one layer in the dish. I’ve been known to cut the bread into smaller pieces to make it fit better.

Divide the spinach mixture in half.
Remove 1/2 cup grated cheese from the cheese pile.
Distribute the spinach over the bread and then the cheese.

Arrange the rest of the bread in one layer over the cheese.
Distribute the remaining spinach mixture and another 1/2 cup cheese on the bread.

In a medium bowl (the one you just took the spinach out of), whisk the eggs with the cooked wine, the half and half, 1 teaspoon salt and pepper.

Pour that gloppy egg mixture over the bread and spinach and cheese layers.
Cover the surface with plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator overnight.

Ready to cook?
Let’s go.

Remove the dish from the refrigerator and let stand at room temperature for about a half hour while the oven preheats to 325°. Sprinkle that reserved 1/2 cup cheese over the top.

Put the square baking dish on a large baking pan so that the egg doesn’t slosh on the floor of your oven.
Bake the dish until the edges and middle of the casserole are puffed, slightly browned and sides have pulled away a bit from the dish, about an hour.

Cool on a rack or your stove top for 5 to 10 minutes before serving.

Tasty, dependable.
Yum.

10 February 2011 Comment

Be Mine, Coffee Cake

In our Valentine’s breakfast planning, we realized it’s far better to make all the dishes ahead of time than rise at four.

This coffee cake can be made up to two days ahead.
(But I’d recommend the night before. Less temptation that way.)

It’s made in a Bundt pan, which on the surface seems like one more thing you need to find a place for in your kitchen. But let’s just face it, if we’re going to commit to this entertaining thing, we’re going to need to find a place for a Bundt pan.

I got this recipe from an old copy I have of the Williams Sonoma “Entertaining” cookbook. The version of the Williams Sonoma cookbook in the previous link is all fresh and new, but the version I have is so charmingly 1990s I get lost in the sun dried tomatoes and feta of it all.

Not that there’s sun dried tomatoes and feta in this coffee cake. That’s not recommended.

There are almonds and dried cherries in my version.
And that is recommended.
Highly.

Be Mine, Coffee Cake

Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 sticks (or 12 tablespoons) butter, room temperature
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/4 cups sour cream
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Filling ingredients:
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup chopped almonds (or almonds put in a baggie and smashed to pieces with a hammer [which is my method])
1/2 cup chopped dried cherries
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions:
Heat your oven to 350°F.
In the meantime, butter and flour your Bundt pan.

In a small bowl, combine the filling ingredients, the sugar, cinnamon, almonds and cherries. In another bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Toss until combined and set aside.

In a large bowl or the bowl of a mixer, beat the butter on medium until creamy. Slowly add 2 cups sugar and increase the speed to medium high. Beat until smooth — or five minutes. Stop the mixer at minutes two and four to scrape down the bowl.

Slowly add the eggs and beat at medium until the mix has doubled in volume, another 5 minutes. Beat in the sour cream and vanilla, 2 minutes more.

Slow the mixing to a slow speed and add the flour mixture (half and half again) until smooth but no longer than 2 minutes.

Pour half of the batter into the prepared pan and spread out to the edges.

Sprinkle the almond-cherry-cinnamon-sugar mix over the batter. Spread the remaining batter over the top.

Put in the oven and bake until the top is golden brown and the cake has pulled away from the sides of the pan, 60 minutes.

Set the pan on a rack or your range to cool. Put on a plate and flip out — your trusty Bundt pan should release it just beautifully. Each slice will have almonds and dried cherries and a boatload of flavor.

Promise.

8 February 2011 Comment

Party with my feet up.

An ill-timed foray into Boot Camp had me on the couch, feet up and back out. Then, the Toxicity Gods then released a virus into my head and face. So, while I’m sitting, I might as well be sitting.

That’s okay.
I’m healing.
And planning a Valentine’s day celebration.

All I’m doing today is using paper and pen to plan our celebratory breakfast.

Next Monday morning, I’ll serve my family a special Valentine’s day breakfast.

I will continue to live my life with needs of full-time work, part time child care and all the side projects for stick shaking.

I refuse to stay up late or add undue stress to my back (ARGH BACK) or my virusface.

So today, I’m planning.

First, I write out the dishes I want to serve.

Then, I work backward, adding tasks like “Shopping” and “make playlist.”

I put them in my schedule, and all this listing can take no more than 15 minutes.

This Valentine’s day, we’ll sit down at seven am to a decorated table, hot chocolate, a special Valentine’s day coffee cake, an eggy casserole and some turkey sausage breakfast patties.

I’ll share my to-do list, my schedule, the recipes and the crafts this week.

Is there anyone you’d like to celebrate on Valentine’s day? What secrets are up your clever sleeve?

15 February 2010 5 Comments

Valentine's Breakfast of Love

The traditions I’m most excited to carry on from Mom are her breakfast celebrations.

Growing up, my mom decorated the table for four major non-holidays. We awoke to decorations and little wrapped gifts every Valentine’s day, St. Patrick’s Day, Three Kings Day and Halloween.

So now that I have my own girls, well, I see where this is going.

Last night in the low-memory hours before I collapsed into bed, I set the table.